Story+1985-04-04+Melbourne,+Australia

´´(?) I used to work up in New York City all the time....so, uh, I used to end up driving down the New Jersey Turnpike about 3.30 in the morning....and uh....wasn´t too bad, wasn´t much traffic....now, the turnpike is a road that stretches from the top of New Jersey to the bottom ....so I´d get around early in the morning, I´d be driving home, thinking about getting home to my girlfriend....thinking about making a ham-and-cheese sandwich....thinking about my girlfriend....a ham-and-cheese sandwich....I´d be driving home, I´d have the window down a little bit, be a nice, cool night....had the radio on a little bit....and like, uh....I wouldn´t quite be watching exactly how fast I was going all the time....and the speedometer´d creep a little bit on the wrong side of the (?)....and all of a sudden I´d see ´em flashing blue lights in my rearview mirror....so I pulled over and the state trooper comes up to me and....I´m one of those people, like, I always forget my wallet all the time, always leave it home in my other pants or something.....so he says ´License, registration, please´, I say ´Well, Sir, I don´t have mine´....he says ´Well, sit right there, what´s your name ?´ so I gave him name and he goes and gets back into the patrol car...about five minutes later he calls me back.....and he looks at me and he says....´Are you, are you....are you that rock and roll singer ?´....so I say ´Yeah, yeah, that´s me´...he says ´Are you the guy, are you the guy that wrote that, uh, that, that ´Born to Run´-song ?´....´Yeah, yeah, that´s me, that´s me´....he says ´You know I got some of your records at home´, I say ´You do ?´, he says ´Yeah´ then he says ´Son, you´re in a lot of trouble´....so he took me in, impounded the car....then I had to go to court about a month later, nightcourt....when you go to traffic court, you´ve got three things you can plead....not counting insanity (chuckles)....you can plead guilty, which nobody pleads ´cause nobody wants to admit that they did what they did....you can plead innocent, nobody wants to plead that because they know that they did what they did....they usually plead ´guilty with an explanation´....everybody pleads that....so I was sitting on the bench and a guy got up in front of me....and he was caught doing 75 on a residential street....his explanation was that he was drunk and he thought he was out on the highway....I said ´Man, my story´s gonna sound good after that´....so I get up to the mike....and the judge says ´Go ahead, state your case´....I say ´Well, your Honor....uh, your Honor, it started..... (....) So, anyway, the judge would not budge....I got my ticket....I went outside to get into my car....and it´d been towed away.....so I walked off down this highway....got into this little roadside cafe....and there was a little waitress....and she could see that I was (?)....so she said ´Don´t worry, son....´cause we´re open all night´....”
 * 04.04.85 Melbourne, Australia, intro to ´Open All Night´**

´´This is uh....I remember, I guess, it was 1967....I had this band....it was the first real band I was ever in....and uh....I remember we had a drummer, his name was Bart..... he was the kind of guy that was always joking around, always getting in trouble....like nothing real serious but like his mother was always going down to the police-station to pick him up, you know (chuckles)....Bart Haynes....and I remember one day he quit the band.... and we didn´t see him for a while...and then when he came in, he came in laughing....in a marine uniform, said he´d enlisted....and a little while later he came in and said he was going to Vietnam .... and we said ´Bart....man, where is that ?´, he said ´I don´t know´...and uh....I guess he got sent over and in about....´bout six months later, I remember his mama lived next door to us got a letter he was missing in action....and before this tour I went down....to Washington and ....I went to the Lincoln Memorial and I visited the Vietnam Veteran´s Memorial.....which, uh....(?) has 50,000 names of guys that did not come back....and uh....that´s a story that ain´t over, it´s getting lived out every day in my country and it´s still being lived out here in your country where you got 47,000 Australian Vietnam Veterans....just fighting against the problems of Agent Orange....and the problems of just....coming back home....this is a song about coming home so if there´s any Veterans out there tonight, this is for you....”
 * 04.04.85 Melbourne, Australia, intro to ‘Shut Out the Light’**

´´This is a song about when I was....I was growing up, I remember....my old man´d come home every night.....through the back and go right into the kitchen and he had his chair.... don´t mess with his chair (chuckles) he´d sit down and, and my mother´d bring him his, his dinner when she come home from work....and he´d sit there all night long, till long after we´d all been to bed....and he used to hate for you to turn the lights on.....couldn´t stand it, he´d sit there in the dark, drinking a six-pack and uh....and my mom used to sit up in the, in the livingroom with just the TV on with a blue bathrobe and slippers with big flowers on the toes (chuckles) she´d fall asleep around 11 o´clock every night ´fore we´d come in....my dad used to be slick, he used to lock up that frontdoor so that me and my sister used to have to come in around the kitchen, he could tell what time you came in....so I remember some nights if it was late, I´d be standing out in the driveway, I used to slick my hair back real tight so he couldn´t tell how long it was ´caus ehe hated it (chuckles)....I´d get up on the porch and he´d let me slip through the kitchen....and then he´d slip through the livingroom....and just as I got my foot on that bottom step and thought I made it, I´d hear ´Bruuuce´....so I´d go back and he´d say ´Sit down, I wanna talk to you´, I´d sit there and his first question would always be ´Well, what do you think you´re doing with yourself ?´ (chuckles)....sometimes it got to, what I used to do was I bought this sleeping bag and I´d stick it out on the edge of these woods, tucked it under these rocks and if it got too late, I´d just wait till the next morning....till he had a chance to get a little sleep...and uh, I´d lay out there at night if it wasn´t, wasn´t too cold, I´d sleep in some of my friends´ cars, if they let me, or on somebody´s porch....and uh, now sometimes when I go home, I always go back past those spots, I say ´Yeah, I used to sleep there´, you know (chuckles) a lot of times those places felt more to me like, like they were mine, that they belong to me than my own house did....so anyway, this is a song, I guess, this is uh....I guess everybody needs some place they can go on them nights when they can´t go home....”
 * 04.04.85 Melbourne, Australia, intro to ´The River´**

´´Now, this is a song about....how time slips away....how it sneaks by on you....when you ain´t watching it....and me and the Big Man....old time has slipped by on us several times.... now, a little more time has slipped by on him than on me, though....but as you can see, the man has maintained his youthful beauty....no doubt about it....”
 * 04.04.85 Melbourne, Australia, intro to ´Glory Days´**

´´This is a song, I....I was 16, I went into this....they had these little dance clubs....and I went in and there was this guy on stage....he was playing a Paul Revere and the Raiders´ song..... called ´Kicks´....and uh....(?) and we became real good friends, traveled up into the city all the time....they used to have matinees in Greenwich Village on the weekends, we´d go up and sit there and watch the guitar players, just watch their hands all day, see what they were playing...then we´d come back home and....go down to his basement, try to get the same sounds on our guitars...never quite sounded the same, for some reason....but uh, this is for Little Steven....wherever he is tonight, I guess he´s back home....he had a record out called ´Voice of America´....came out not that long ago, it´s a real good record, if you get a chance, you ought to pick up on it....it´s called ´Voice of America´ by Little Steven, this is for him....”
 * 04.04.85 Melbourne, Australia, intro to ´No Surrender´**

´´I remember my dad always....telling me how....I was never gonna amount to anything....and he´d sit, sit at that kitchen table and think about....just the little things that he didn´t have.... until he´d get you thinking that way....and you´d stand out on the corner and watch....the girls in the cars that went by....just thinking and thinking and thinking....until you felt like you were just gonna....like someday you were just gonna.....”
 * 04.04.85 Melbourne, Australia, intro to ´I´m on Fire´**

´´Now wait just a minute....wait just a minute....now, this is a song....about temptation .... and sin !....it´s about conflict....between worldly things and spiritual health....between desires of the flesh....sexual desires....and spiritual ecstasy ....now, where did this conflict begin ?.... well, it began in the beginning in a place called the Garden of Eden....now, the Garden of Eden was originally believed to have been located in Mesopotamia....but the latest theological studies have found out, and you´ll be reading about this in the newspapers any day, that its actual location was ten miles south of Tamborine Highway....that´s why they call this the Garden State !....but now understand, in the Garden of Eden there was none of the accoutrements of modern living....there wasn´t no little bed you could go home to at night and crawl up into and snuggle your little head into the pillow ....you couldn´t watch no TV ...you couldn´t go out on to the highway and buy a cheeseburger if you wanted one....they didn´t have any those, uh, those, uh, those Vegemite sandwiches....no, Sir !....in the Garden of Eden there was no sin....there was no sex....man lived in a state of innocence....now, when it comes to no sex, I think I prefer the state of guilt that I constantly live in....well, we got into town a little early the other day so I decided I´d take a ride out to that location to see if I could find the answer to some of these mysteries....why my soul pulls me in one way and my body pulls me another....so we drove on out there and we found out that that spot is now occupied by Happy Dan´s Celebrity Used Car Lot....a shame....I walked in, the man said to me ´Son, you need a yellow convertible, a four-door DeVille with a Continental spare, wide chrome wheels, air-conditioning, automatic heat, fold-out bed in your backseat, eight-track tapedeck , TV and a phone so you can speak to your baby when you’re driving all alone’...I said ‘I’ll take two’...then I said ´But Dan, that´s not the reason why I came....see, I wanna know the answer to this temptation that I feel all the time and this conflict, why it´s pulling me apart all the time, why it´s splitting me right down the middle, why my spirit wants to go one way and my body wants to go another´....he said ´Well, son, that´s easy because right here on these ten beautiful commercially-zoned acres was the sweetest little paradise that man has ever seen, in the Garden of Eden there were many wonderous things : there was a Tree of Life, there was a Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, there was a man, Adam, there was a woman, Eve, and she looked so fine.....and when Adam kissed her, it was the first time that a man had ever kissed a woman....and she had legs that were long and soft to the touch....and when Adam touched her, it was the first time that a man had ever touched a woman....and then they walked out into the green fields and that´s when the trouble started ....they lay down....they whispered sweet things into each other´s ears....and then when Adam....well, let´s just say it was the first time....but there was something else in the Garden of Eden on that day, old Satan came slithering up on his belly and somehow he turned their love into a betrayal and sent them running down into the darkness below....but that´s alright because right here tonight on this backlot for 99.95 and no money down and don´t worry if you´ve got bad credit, it´s good here, I´ve got their getaway car....and if you´ve got the nerve to ride....I´ve got the keys....to the first....pink....Cadillac....”
 * 04.04.85 Melbourne, Australia, intro to ´Pink Cadillac´**

‘‘I guess it was right around this time of year....it was like towards the end of summer when ....when the weather’d still be really warm in the day but it’d really cool off at night ....I remember I’d bought this.....this old Camaro that we fixed up, bought it for 500 dollars....and uh....at night I remember we, me and friend of mine, we’d throw on a couple of t-shirts and a sweatshirt....put on leather jackets....and we´d get out in the thing and we’d put the top down ....drive down along the coast.....and the only problem was that the top went down but it didn’t go up.....so when it rained, it rained....but it was a good car.... and we used to go down, there was this strip little ways in off this river....and I guess it was like an old junkyard where folks would bring stuff down from town and leave it off there just to rust out in the rain....but there was this little clearing where on weekends we’d....we’d get together....and that was, that was where I first met her....and when we first started going out, it was like, uh .....I guess it was like it always is when you first start going out with somebody, you know, everything is, uh.....everything is great, you know, laughing at each other’s stupid jokes and ... seems like you’re having fun all the time..... and uh, for a long time we did, we had a real good time that summer....but I don´t know what happens, I don´t know what changes people, time, time passes....and she got to where....she didn’t talk as much as she used to, didn’t like going out at night....and started hiding my keys so I couldn’t take the car out .... and uh....I don´t know what it was.... I know we were good friends ....for a long time....and I know that she understood that when I took the car out....and when I won....that it was the only time.... that something was happening to me....wasn’t happening at my job or with my friends....and it didn’t matter if people thought it was stupid or if they didn’t think it was stupid....it was a time when I really...I started to feel....like something.....and to have one thing.....just one thing in your whole life that you do.....that makes you feel proud of yourself ....well, I don’t think that’s too much for anybody to ask....anywhere.... (....) Well, that was the night that we, we got out of there, we just packed up our bags....and we still don´t know where we´re going yet....but I guess that´ll come in time....but sometimes it seems like time gets running so short on you....like things are happening that....that you can´t explain....and there´s not much you can do....we´re just gonna keep going....and keep searching...and to keep on going, gonna keep on going, keep on going and keep on going....”
 * 04.04.85 Melbourne, Australia, intro to ‘Racing in the street’**

´´Thanks, this is our, uh....this is our last night in Australia here....I´d just like to take a minute and thank everybody for coming down to the shows we´ve done here in Melbourne ....and I´d like to also thank you for the support that you´ve shown our band over the years when we haven´t gotten down here, I want you to know we appreciate it....and I hope we´ll be getting back to see you in not too long.....this is for you....”
 * 04.04.85 Melbourne, Australia, intro to ´Can´t Help Falling in Love with You´**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//